Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) is holding up a vote on a State Department nominee over his involvement in backchannel talks with Iran that have infuriated Republicans, The Hill has learned.

Rubio prevented the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from voting Wednesday to confirm White House Iran advisor Puneet Talwar as the new Assistant Secretary of State for Political Military Affairs. [...]

“Sen. Rubio is requesting additional information from Mr. Talwar about his role in the so-called “backchannel” outreach to Iran,” a Rubio spokeswoman told The Hill in an email.

The talks were “backchannel” as most serious talks are because, as we’ve seen, concern trolls and extremists in both America and Iran would never allow the talks to take place if they were broadcast on CNN.

Rubio is also blocking Eilene Gottemoeller for Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security and Frank Rose for Assistant Secretary of State for Verification and Compliance.

Why? Because the Obama administration hasn’t “definitively pledge that militarily significant reductions to the U.S. nuclear arsenal would only be carried out” unless approved by senators like Marco Rubio.

Rubio has a hard-on for nukes. He must feel very serious and authoritative at the moment.